Day One with the Trainer - Oh My!!

My appointment at the Athletic Club was at 6 PM.  I was to meet Paul - my new trainer.  So I pull on my gym wear (which is in serious need of updating), lace up my shoes and head into the unknown....well, unknown as in I don't know how he is going to torture me tonight.  I arrive at the gym a few minutes early and Andrew is waiting for me at the front desk...he forgot to take my picture on Saturday so he ushers me downstairs and takes a picture of me from the front and the side...now, I know what you are thinking....Chris is so the girl that goes to the gym with make up on, hair done and great work-out gear on - oh wait, no.  That would be some other Chris with way too much time on their hands.

I reality (due to the super-fantastic traffic on Oxford Street) I had exactly 20 minutes to eat dinner, get changed, check my email and get to the gym.  I threw on whatever I could find - which today consisted of crazy old sweat capris and my United Way Stair Climb t-shirt that is so faded you can barely tell what it is for anymore.  Threw my hair elastic in and ran out the door hoping that my socks matched.  So I was super excited to be having my picture taken - with the possibility that it would be on an ad in some newspaper for all to see....yee haw...but that embarrasment was soon to be eclipsed by my first workout with Paul.

After a quick warmup on the dreaded eliptical, we headed to the women's only section to start.  Now, I know that everyone at the gym is there for the same reason - to get sweaty and fit - but everything he had me do made me feel clumsy and uncoordinated.  He assures me that as we go one I will get better at them all, but he had to laugh a couple of times (with me - not at me).  

We started with squats over a bench - so you have to squat low enough to touch the bench before you stand up again.  25 of those at a pretty quick pace.  Then we did static lunges where the knee has to graze the ground - 15 on each side (I think).  This was followed by 25 crunches on the bosu, a strange arm/leg circle core exercise and a plank where you lift your back leg and make a circle with it before switching legs (brutal!!).  Then he said that those seemed too easy for me, so we moved to 'phase II'.

Phase II sounded tougher - and it didn't disappoint.  We did the same types of exercises - only with movement this time.  The squats were now down to the top of a step platform (which is rediculously low - even though it seems really high when you are in step class), lunges down the center of the room with double dips on each side, more crunches, more strange leg/arm circles and plank - only I had to do them all double time....then we were out of time because we had to go through the nutrition program.  We did all of this in about 20 minutes.

The nutrition program is all online, and I haven't gotten too far into it but it looks like it is going to take some time to get used to.  I will play around with it tonight and let you know what I find out.  So with all of that wrapped up, he advises me that because we only had 20 minutes to work out - that I would have to do cardio to make up for it - IS HE KIDDING.  I can already feel my quads fighting back, but this is what I signed up for so I head to the cardio room with my headphones in tow.

So my goal now is to burn 500 calories every time I use a cardio machine.  For a while now I have been so focused on distance that I haven't really paid attention to the calorie count on the machine.  I merrily walk to my favourite treadmill and set myself up.  I turn on the machine and set it for 45 minutes....it can't possibly take longer than that to burn 500 calories right?  WRONG!  I finally hit the 500 mark at 1 hour - thinking I am going to die and long since switching to my fallback of 2 minutes run and 1 minute walk.

I went to many places in my head - my trip to Mexico in December, winning the contest, taking out the lady that just changed the channel to some stupid gossip recap of TIFF in Toronto - but I guess the point is that I did it!  It wasn't easy and I didn't want to continue at some points, but now that I have a specific number I have to hit - at least it is quantifiable!

So now I am laying on the couch after the.best.shower.ever.  wondering which muscle groups are going to be the worst tomorrow (let alone Wedesday).  Knowing that I have to go back to the gym tomorrow and burn another 500 calories before my real 60 minute torture sessions begin on Wednesday.  Still feeling motivated though and I think that Paul and I are going to get along perfectly - he wants to win the contest as much as I do - and promises punishment for non-compliance of his rules....hope I never find out what that means :}